TAB For Ever

Now ,Now.....just got out of practice. There was a while between drinks and someone slipped with the checklist !

My recently improved eyes confirmed this....and the sound of the gallops , the smell of the turf.....and things you pick up from being there. All technical stuff !

Exactly Gamma....fantastic to bring the best Aussies over to little ole NZ to race v our best. I'm tempted to travel to the night...last year it was great seeing the two 'teams' led down the straight before the test match ! Behind the National flags .....hair raising stuff ! At little ole Cambridge too ! Of course Entain /HRNZ are contributing .Where does Brodie 'always on the money' think the money came from to launch this new strategic plan to rebirth Harness in NZ. Answer ...the money came from Entain ,and 70% of the money has gone to grass roots racing with extra stakes for everyone...across the Board. Plus monies are held in reserves for the planned events/promotions etc hoping to stimulate things so if Brodie has a good idea then he should forward it to HRNZ for consideration. Cos the slot races ,plus those during Cup week are part of the plan , as is resuscitating the North Island hence Manawatu and Auckland events also feature in trying to excite people . Not easy but they trying ! Every club in NZ receives HRNZ /Entain money so a bit pointless in choosing one meeting to point out how betting doesnt cover stakes and meeting expenses..

Only average detective work Wingman......Oscars flatmate obviously thought about his 'all talk no do ' editorial policy and changed it from Fuckwit to Halfwit. He claims not to change posts ! As a fellow South Islander to the village idiot , I thought he may even have the same post code as me as there are caves in the hills down my way and I thought I'd maybe smoke the loser out. I guess us flatmates have every right to have an opinion on everything...I cant remember digressing off the subject of Racing much tho with my International experience I can yarn a bit about Rugby. But Chiefs MBA and my 3 x years in the 5th Form of Christ College does give us a pretty good combined CV. So wingman ..spread your tiny wings and fly away ! I still await an answer from Chief if it OK to use the word Fuck-wit .

In 2017 Sports betting was about 25 % of Total. Slowly but surely Sports has gained ground , but not Racing [ 3 x codes] In February Racing was flat with 2024 but Sports had nice increase and headed off Racing so + 50% of Total.

As in most things in life Galah the creme of the crop causes excitement , publicity , media attention and ultimately extra investment. NZ used to have the Golden Kiwi Lottery with one life changing prize and it often took weeks to sell each draw. I note Lotto started and has increased in sales 10 x fold with people investing much of their disposable income to chase a few big wins in Jackpots etc. The big races which capture the publics attention still attract big investment , which racing administrators hope will convert to more regular betting eg the once or twice a year punter will convert to twice a month or even twice a week. Race for a bag of kumaras , ownership and interest would die in NZ . Coz the TAB is forever folk will still bet on Aussie races and Sports. Sport is already overtaking Racing some months eg February 2025. Thousands of jobs will be lost , NZ breeders will cease etc etc ...its a slow burn but there are 'new' people entering the Sport. With the Asian invasion ,this obvious influx has often been slower to enter NZ racing than was hoped. Like many enthusiasts I continue to invest a few pennies in O/ship now that stakes have risen and there remains the chance of your horse contesting a big race. Dull that possibility and revert to plodders racing for kumaras and I like many wouldn't cross the street to waste time to watch even let alone bet ! As for Friday...I may attend....but it so tempting to sit at home in comfort at home , with plenty food and drink and enjoy the TV coverage...just like Rugby games now , TV coverage so much better and saves time and money. And I can note all the presenters errors , poor picks and not only curse at them at top of lungs but I can jump on Internet and vent my spleen. And pretend I'm a participant .....

Pardon what? Is calling someone on here a Fuck-wit OK ? What about the C word ?

Why not....great that the track looking and performing so well ! And the awards for the categories that Clubs need to be performing well in/focusing on if they going to futureproof their existences. Like most businesses and sports ,racing has a number of annual awards to recognise excellent so it good Clubs be included too ! And good on ATR they appear to be striving for continual improvement. Today there was food /drink provided in the saddling/stabling area for the stable staff .....and there were at least 2 x workers washing and mopping all the Publlc stand seating . And I believe a larger big screen about to be set up on race day. Nice to see !

Start with no childish name calling......really ?

Interesting thoughts Chief ! I often don't feel your love.......with my robust intelligent posts ! Got harassed by the 'tight five ' from my first post ! Then recently the village idiot called me a fuck -wit which you seem to endorse . Q...Have you ever polled your posters ,sought feedback ?

Well the Ellerslie track looked magnificent for todays trials ! The grass now looking lush and a bit of give in it as well I noted ! Getting better by the week too ! And I see Ellerslie { ATR } was awarded the Award for top Metro club in NZ . Well done ATR.

Hopefully all involved will chip in and put on some good jumps races. ie the trainers have the horses , they have the jockeys ready to ride and the courses/jumps are of good standard. KMyers recently had over 20 at the recent beach races , so he will be ready , hopefully others show their commitment as well.

IMO supporting and promoting "Cup Class" horses is an important an exciting aspect of Harness.. The biggest excitement IMO is the attraction of the top Australian Horses......results in a competitive trans-Tasman battle. We used to have the Interdoms but for various reasons these fell out of favour and they got watered down...not only was series too taxing on horses other high stake races started swamping the calendar. Betting and interest increases significantly in these big races and keeps the sport/industry in the media . The slot races are very new to Harness ,the high-profile will only be matched by the NZ Cup. A key to the Slot races is that most of the big stake is funded by the participants . Personally I'd drive up to 4 hours[did in 2024] for the 'event'......NZ v Australia. I wouldn't cross the road for a card of maiden horses many driven by part-timers ! Harness generally has a bad rap among non-racing folk , but big stakes may catch their attention as apotential owner in racing or breeding stock.And racing needs more outside investment to prosper. As for the Cambridge track...it adequate and has hosted a few Jewels days successfully.

Can't turn back time , but can do the next best thing , move to Dunedin. Bring back Carisbrook , the steam engines and watch the games as they crawl past from the Scotsman's Grandstand . And Forbury Park too....and the Best Cafe and Tip Top dairy. And mayors that like racing !

In Entains time the NZ Herald coverage has improved a lot.....big days feature prominently and every Friday covers main meetings .....add on Entain fullpage ads plus Te Akau ads selling shares to champions and its hard not to know there is still Horse Racing in NZ. But today , looking for a review of last nights Trots , one finds the racing article features a preview of big winter Jumps races from Hawkes Bay and Ruakaka. Obviously someone filled the gap with a piece from June/July 2024. The cricket piece goes back 7 decades to when NZ scored 26 -all out v England at Eden Park...March 28 1955. Gave people plenty of time to trudge down to a TAB and take a 50 cent double , on a handwritten yellow slip and hope that the Doubles collect was enough to put a deposit on a house. It sometimes did . And todays $5.20 Herald cost 3 cents !

Yes , Wellington has some good sportspeoples but overall they don't win much and crowd numbers for Rugby in Caketin and the Phoenix is not too flash ! The Hurricanes crowd tonight was miserable. This weeks news that many areas there have seen house prices drop by up to 25% since 2021. Thousands of public servants have lost their jobs recently and small businesses failing by the day ! At least you got an interesting mayor ! And School lunches !!! Say no more ....parents can't feed their kids. Overall , it doesn't look pretty ...the best thing to come out of Wellington is the road to Auckland ! And the best racing are the picnic days at Tauherenikau ! The Champagne turf now the Shampoo turf.....sad really !

Sydney faces a lot of the same issues that New Zealand faces. Sport/Racing is now at best televised entertainment...much better view , cheaper and less time consuming. There are much more 'big days' so now no call to action ....another big day around the corner ! And racing is so bloody boring ...2 mins or less every 40 minutes .....horses running around a track, not the thrills/spills of car racing. Last nights Penrith v Rabbits had a poor crowd at game.....who cares ? So what . I went to a sports AGM , didn't even make a quorum .....who cares ! So what. And the reputation of Horse racing ain't gonna improve ...even in Australia. Many folk still like a bet .......Sports is not only catching up on Racing ,its surging ahead . Lotto for the big win ! But a great time to be involved in racing .......my horses have a better chance of breaking even and I can bet on any thing at anytime !

No , they didnt delete everything...fields still there in Other meeting News. Right hand column under Taupo 25th march. Heats 22 to 26 were 1100m heats for 2 year olds....open your mind champ , you can't always be right !

Counting a problem aye Chief ! Help is available......closer to 120 x 2 yr olds entered there today.

Wrong.....not rubbish ! I spoke to 3 x youngish ,emerging trainers recently and they emphasised how important the selling of young horses is to their operation. There was approx 100 2 yr olds hoping to run at Taupo today

Te Akau are ONE stable the last time I looked. They plan carefully , and need to....they have a shit load of horses. 33 today , a lot of planning and organisation plus they stick closely to their processes generally getting two turf trials before horses race after a spell. On March 5 they had 31 trial at Taupo and a fewdays later had 17 at Ellerslie trials .In between they had 22 horses racing at 4 meetings including 11 on Champions day . Thats a shit load of planning and logistics. And they tell owners well in advance when their horses will be trialled . Often 6 x weeks in advance. Some stables would find it hard getting 3 x horses to trial on the same day let alone over 30 , twice within a couple weeks.

Winston heard it all before.......that's why he generously ,to support racing which he loves , built 3 x Synthetic tracks. All the career racing folk told him racing was going backwards cos of the lack of reliable ,safe ,consistent surfaces so he gave them 3 . What the trainers didn't tell him that was they were more concerned with getting their horses to run a good trial so they could SELL at a healthy profit . And to do that they needed turf tracks. The negativity from the career racing folk was so huge that most in the racing community ,especially punters , were completely put off the Synthetic ...before it even started ...perception is reality ! I made sure I attended the first synthetic meeting and saw/heard for myself ......even a key worker/participant on duty said to me "I was led to believe it would be carnage here , horses running on this track ". Gotta laugh now when a top trainer who only supports synthetic when 'hard up for options' states after a poor turf trial , 'its good the synthetic circuit about to start , keep the horse with me and we'll do well ,the horse needs a firmer consistent surface . LOL Interesting every week on Trackside watching all the racing communities in Aussie running on their clay ,sand , dirt tracks. Noticed Alice Springs and Pingrup [?] on weekend and recently the Saudi Cup ,richest race in world on all weather surface LOL. THen there is USA,Japan ,Korea and MOST countries in the world ! NZ trainers should support their industry ......they let Jumping slip .....just blame others !

Correct Doomed......after a long day several typos crept into my otherwise flawless post...Prince Majestic [Ray Verner] I trying to get your mind off crowd numbers, betting figures and lack of maiden races and opportunities for South Island horses !

If any of you interested in horse's breeding and background ATR's Champions Day tells some good stories..... The horse everyone was tipping at good money in the 3200m Cup.......Trav.......goes back to champion Wingatui mare Princess Mellay who was a standout from the first crop of Champion sire Mellay. The Princess owned by Alice ,wife of top trainer Hector Anderton who had ridden her grandam Pink Robe. Princess Mellay won two NZ Cups at 3200m both times beating stablemate Trelay who went on to sire some useful horses and jumpers. Earlier the pricess had won the NZ Oaks [2400m] ,the Dunedin Guineas and James Hazlett God Cup.. As a mother she Produced outstanding galloper who won some 19 races when racing on both sides of Tasman[Ray Verner]. She also produced Bi Noble [9 wins] and Great Northern Steeples winner Rock Crystal. Trav can obviously run out a strong 3200m so one to follow. Another boom-horse on Champions day was Island Life who looks an Oaks horse. She is out of Lycia who was Montjeu / Chimeara. Useful Southern galloper Candycane's dam is Cerebus who is Pins /Chimeara. And Chimeara goes back to Eight Carat who has produced many outstandng NZ horses incl Diamond Lover. Then there was NZB Kiwi Slot winner Damask Rose by Savabeel from Sombreuil [by Flying Spur ] bred by T Rider Her older sister Provence earlier won the Group 1 mares race.....Provence is part-owned by the Ellerslie Social Racing group who had an outstanding few seasons , as they also raced Group wiinner Bonny Lass among others.

Several Clubs race at two tracks.... These AWARDS got you all worked up last year also.....but my explanations were IMO very well witten ,and even Bloke commended me ! The award is for Clubs....and they graded on Financial, Racing , Marketing , Governance and Innovation. To recap 2024.....the AFTERMATH...... ATR and Whangarei [ Chief happy] and Kumara were the winners while Waikato awarded a 'Leadership' award and Taupo an 'appreciation' award. Obviously other Clubs have made extra effort to make the Finalists list. Good on em , I say . Everyone enjoys getting a medal or certificate , making the podium and getting recognition from their peer group !